


Nothing Ever Stays the Same

by afrocurl



Category: Friday Night Lights
Genre: Gen, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-28
Updated: 2008-12-28
Packaged: 2018-02-13 11:54:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2149824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afrocurl/pseuds/afrocurl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>A Reunion between four men and a kid.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Ever Stays the Same

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [](http://leobrat.livejournal.com/profile)[**leobrat**](http://leobrat.livejournal.com/) and [](http://starxd-sparrow.livejournal.com/profile)[**starxd_sparrow**](http://starxd-sparrow.livejournal.com/) for the beta. Written for [](http://1407graymalkin.livejournal.com/profile)[**1407graymalkin**](http://1407graymalkin.livejournal.com/) in the 2008 [](http://fnl-santa.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://fnl-santa.livejournal.com/)**fnl_santa**. I hope this hits on a few of the requests you made. Have a great rest of the holiday!

“Daddy, why are we goin’ to Texas?” Noah asked, watching his father rolling around the house searching for something.

“It’s a reunion, where I go and visit my old high school and friends,” Jason replied, still searching for items to pack around the living room.

“But,” Noah stammered, “You have friends ‘ere. What’s diff’rent about Texas?”

“I have friends, that’s right, but my friends here are from work, the friends we’re going to visit are from when I could walk and when I first hurt myself.”

“Oooh,” Noah replied with wonder, eyes widening at the thought of his father walking around the house instead of wheeling around.

Jason pushed his hand through his son’s hair. “That’s right. You can hear about all it when we get there, and if you’re really good, someone’ll tell you about when I played football.”

“You mean like on Sunday when we watch TV?” Noah wondered.

“More like all of the big kids on Friday nights, but that’s the idea.”

Noah finally clapped his hands together wildly, happy at the prospect of talking to different adults about his dad.

“But, before we get there, you need to be extra good because we’re going on a plane to get there. You have to sit for a few hours,” Jason quickly said.

“Your friends aren’t here?” he asked.

“No, this is New Jersey. My friends are in Texas, where you were born. Do you remember that?”

“Not really,” Noah confessed.

“That’s because we left when you were eight moths old.”

“And now I’mma big boy,” he proudly stated, puffing out his chest.

“Sure you are, kid,” Jason replied, stifling a reflexive laugh and smiling fondly at Noah.

“Be nice to him, Daddy. You can J-O-K-E about everyone else when we get to Dillon,” his wife, Erin, interrupted.

“Right, but can you help me find my phone charger? I’ve been wheelin’ around for the last twenty minutes tryin’ to find it.”

“You put it in the bag after breakfast. Tell me you’re not nervous?”

“What’s nervous?” Noah asked.

“It’s when you get sorta scared about something,” Jason explained before addressing his wife. “I’m not nervous, just anxious.”

“’Xious?” the boy wondered.

“We’ll explain it to you later, sport. We gotta get to the airport now.”

“On the plane?” Noah pressed.

“Sure, on the plane.”

-*-

Noah groused as he finally got to stand up after the plane ride into San Antonio. “Are we there yet?” he asked for the fiftieth time since boarding the plane in Newark.

“Not yet, sweetie,” his mother replied. “We’ still have to drive from here to Dillon.”

“But I wanna meet Daddy’s friends,” he protested.

“You will, Noah. Just keep being a good boy and we’ll be there soon,” she responded.

“If you’re good, Noah, we’ll stop by for something special,” Jason added.

“Promise?” he asked.

“Of course, sport.”

-*-

By the time the car pulled into the Alamo Freeze, Jason had seen at least thirty people he remembered on the drive through town. Mac’s car was in the Applebee’s parking lot, along with Coach’s and Buddy’s — another afternoon talking about the team, Jason assumed.

He caught sight of his mom’s car in the parking lot at the grocery store, but felt it better to just leave her be than pull in and say hello with Erin and Noah in the car. It was still hard for them to accept him being in New Jersey each Thanksgiving, and it seemed easier to not mention his short visit.

 _I see everyone’s still here_ , he thought to himself.

“Ready for ice cream?” he asked the boy in the backseat.

The only response was a squeal followed by a loud clap.

Jason was happy to see Smash and Matt weren’t still working at the store, two small indications that life does change here.

_If only everyone else had moved on._

-*-

The plan was for all of them to meet at Applebee’s at six, but Jason hadn’t heard back from most of the guys with anything other than a “See ya!” when he pressed them each about his trip back.

Jason rolled into the restaurant with Erin and Noah, hoping Erin wouldn’t feel left out. He looked at his watch: 5:59 PM.

The hostess seated them at a large table before going back to her other tables.

Minutes later, Jason caught Tim strolling into the room, pausing at the bar for a drink before ambling to the table.

“So Six, whaddya doin’ with yourself now?” Riggins asked between drags on his longneck.

“Still at the same agency, workin’ my way up. Gotta keep it up if I keep providin’.”

“Ya mean workin’ for The Man?” his friend shot back.

“Someone’s gotta. You still here?” Street asked.

“Kinda; workin’ on getting’ outta here and into the Arena League. San Antonio State was good to me.”

“You think I didn’t check up on you?” Street asked, mindful of his wife and son in the room.

“Dunno, Six. Not like it’s easy to keep up with you, what with being all the way in Jersey."

“Whatever; it’s not my fault I got out,” he chided. “You have a phone— use it.”

“Fine,” Riggins huffed. “We both suck at talkin’. Now that we got that outta the way, let me tell you what you've missed!”

Billy turned his head towards his brother’s voice as he walked into the room, hoping his little brother wouldn’t start going on at top volume about his love life. “Don’t start with Mindy,” he called over the din.

“Like there aren’t enough stories about Mindy, Billy.”

“Who’s Mindy?” Noah asked.

“Billy’s wife,” Jason replied.

“’Kay,” he replied cheerfully, amused by all of the people around the room enjoying themselves.

As another man in a wheelchair entered the room, Noah prodded his father to ask a question.

“Who’s that?”

“That’s your Uncle Herc. He’s one of Daddy’s friends from after I got my chair.”

“Oh, okay. Can I go play with him?”

“Sure you can,” Jason replied before watching his son bound towards Herc before his friend had a chance to make his way to the table.

Noah made a loud thud when he landed in Herc’s lap. “Hiya,” the boy chirped.

“And who are you?” Herc asked, unable to get to table with the small boy in his lap.

“My daddy’s the other one in the wheelchair,” he proudly replied, and pointing at the table he’d left.

“Hi there, Noah. I haven’t seen you since you were this big,” Herc commented while gesturing to the length of his forearm.

“Daddy said that you knew him after he got his chair.”

“That’s right, I did.” Herc smiled at Jason’s kid, then nodded his head for Jason to take Noah from him.

“Sport, why don’t ya give Uncle Herc some room to get here?”

“Okay, Daddy,” the boy happily replied before running back to the table.

Herc quickly wheeled his way to the table before he said anything to his former roommate.

“So QB, whaddya doin’?”

“Still at that agency I was in when I left,” Jason replied quietly before finishing. “Sorry for not keepin’ up.”

“That’s right,” Herc exclaimed. “Will ya listen everyone? Mr. Jason Street admitted to not bein’ perfect.”

The faces of everyone else in the room lit up in surprise.

“What’s that about, Daddy?”

“Uncle Herc’s just bein’ a meanie, Noah. Don’t worry ‘bout it.”

“I was not,” Herc protested. “Just speakin’ the truth. You ain’t the best thing to come outta this town, remember.”

Jason rolled his eyes before thinking of something to say. “I didn’t say I was, Herc. I feel so special for having come all this way for this.”

“Cut it out, QB. You know you like it.”

“Whatever,” Street replied dismissively.

“Daddy, why you are you two being mean?”

“Just how we are, Noah.”

“But that’s not nice. You told me to be nice ev’ryone.”

“I am being nice, sport.”

“You don’t sound it,” Noah replied, starting to pout at the downturn in his mood.

“Hey, we’ll stop, won’t we Uncle Herc?” Jason asked.

“’Course, we will. Just for the lil’ one,” Herc whispered.

“Billy, get over ‘ere?” Herc yelled, trying to make it obvious that the jabs weren’t to be taking seriously.

The other man quickly found his way over to a corner of the room, mostly to spare everyone else who wasn’t supposed to attend the reunion the shouting.

As soon as Billy was settled, Noah spoke first. “So, tell me a story about my Daddy,” he demanded to no one in particular.

Erin just looked at her son, before getting up. “You boys have fun, I’ll get you two later,” she said.

“Bye Mommy! Imma gonna have fun with Daddy’s friends,” Noah stated as he waved goodbye.

As soon as Erin had left the restaurant, the rest of the table let out a quick sigh before attempting to answer the boy’s question.

“There’s not much to tell, sport,” Herc said first, unsure of how to tell any of his favorite stories of his ex-roommate without offending the kid.

“That’s bull,” Tim spat out. “We can talk about flippin’ Buddy’s old place.”

“Flip? Like a gymnast?” Noah wondered.

“Not like a gymnast, Noah,” Jason responds before shooting Tim a dirty look.

“It’s when you buy a house, fix it up and then sell it again for more money,” Herc added.

“That’s silly, Daddy.”

“It’s not as silly as Uncle Herc made it sound, actually. It’s an investment, like buying a real house, but you get the money sooner.”

“I still don’t get it.”

“That’s not the important part of the story, though. The real story involved all of us working together,” Jason continued.

“Like what?”

“Like when Billy stapled his hand to the wall,” Tim replied before laughing at the memory.

“That musta hurt,” Noah said, trying not to imagine what it felt like, and rubbing his hand in ghosted pain.

“It did, and I got the scar to prove it,” Billy said before pointing to a small spot on his hand.

“Plus,” Tim continued, “there were all the times we didn’t listen to Six here about how to fix it.”

“That’s not right, Tim,” Noah chided, “because Daddy’s always right.”

Under this breath, Tim murmured, “Just don’t tell Coach that.”

The rest of the evening was spent with the five boys retelling some of the stories from when Jason was still in Texas.

-*-

“Daddy, can we go back to Texas? I wanna hear more stories from Uncle Tim and Uncle Herc.”

“Not right now, Noah,” Jason replied, ruffling Noah’s hair with his hand.

“Why?”

“Because I have work to do here, remember.”

“But Texas was so fun,” Noah continued before pouting at not getting his way.

“I’m happy you liked it, but not right now. Daddy has a big deal to make with some clients.”

Dejectedly, Noah walked out of the room, leaving Jason to look over the paperwork for his latest deal.

“What if we went back for Thanksgiving with Granny and Pop Street instead of being here?” Jason asked loudly to get Noah’s attention.

The sound of pounding feet continued until Noah stood in the doorway. “Really, Daddy?”

“Sure, sport. Just for you.”

Noah turned around, running towards the other room to pass on the good news.

Jason looked back at his file and wondered how Noah would get out of this trip without being exposed to every curse in Texas.

 _Those boys better behave again_ , he mused.


End file.
